USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)
For the mirror universe counterpart, see ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A). :For the counterpart, see . (Enterprise-subclass refit) |registry=NCC-1701-A |affiliation=Federation, Starfleet |launched=2286 |status=retired, transferred to Chal's defense fleet, destroyed (2293) |commander=Captain James T. Kirk (2286–2293) }} The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A), sometimes referred to as the Enterprise-A or NCC-1701-Alpha, was a Federation starship in service to Starfleet during the late 23rd century. Overview and specifications Nominally, ships of this class were heavy cruisers, but in particular, this vessel was outfitted as a tactical command cruiser. The second Federation starship to bear the name, the Enterprise-A was christened shortly after the destruction of her predecessor, the , in 2285. Captain James T. Kirk and his senior staff were reassigned to the Enterprise-A after they relinquished command of the captured HMS Bounty in San Francisco in 2286. Captain Kirk commanded the Enterprise-A for eight years, and the ship's final cruise was highlighted by the protection of the Khitomer conference as the Khitomer Accords were drafted. Despite the USS Excelsior being more advanced and already in service, the Enterprise was designated as the Federation flagship, as such when she would be assigned to escort Klingon chancellor Gorkon to Earth for peace talks, when the chancellor was assassinated. Construction history When construction began on the Enterprise-A in the early 2280s, the ship was named the USS Ti-Ho and assigned the registry number, NCC-1798. Though resembling a Constitution-class rebuild, Ti-Ho was built new from the keel up. The Ti-Ho was to serve as a test-bed for transwarp drive which was also being tested on the USS Excelsior. Construction of the Ti-Ho was largely completed by 2285, but shortly afterwards transwarp drive was proved a failure and Starfleet Command decided to equip the Ti-Ho with conventional warp drive. A few weeks later, the USS Enterprise was destroyed in orbit of the Genesis Planet, and in 2286 Admiral James T. Kirk and the former crew of the Enterprise prevented the destruction of Earth by the Cetacean Probe. In honor of their achievements, Federation President Hiram Roth ordered that the Ti-Ho be renamed Enterprise and assigned the registry NCC-1701-A. Shortly after, command of the Enterprise was assigned to newly-demoted Captain James T. Kirk. :In the FASA RPG, the ship redesignated as the ''Enterprise-A was a newly-built Enterprise-subclass Mk III vessel that was to be named USS Atlantis (NCC-1786). The "Celebrating the Ships of the Line" Startrek.com article establishes that the starship was newly-built and commissioned in 2286 over San Francisco. A different source, TNG Echoes From the Past, gives a conflicting version of this history, claiming the ship's original name as the Yorktown; the same game also says that the ship's commissioning was in 2285.'' Service history 2286 In 2286, the Enterprise-A was commissioned at the San Francisco Fleet Yards on stardate 8442.5. She was launched from the Earth Spacedock on the order of the Federation Council in appreciation of Captain James T. Kirk and his crew's efforts to prevent the Whale Probe from devastating Earth. The crew initially thought they were going to be assigned to the USS Excelsior (or, according to Leonard McCoy, a "freighter" at best), but the new Enterprise was soon revealed, docked behind the Excelsior. The crew took their stations and the Enterprise left spacedock on a shakedown cruise. 2287 The shakedown did not proceed as planned, and the Enterprise limped back to spacedock for several weeks of repair under the supervision of Captain Montgomery Scott. Although her warp drive was working perfectly, half the doors on the ship were malfunctioning and several control interfaces did not work. The transporter was also nonfunctional, requiring shuttles to be used for off-ship missions. Before the repairs were complete, the Enterprise was called into duty in order to intervene in a kidnapping situation on Nimbus III. The ship was subsequently commandeered by the rogue Vulcan Sybok, who ordered her to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, in order to pursue the mythical Sha Ka Ree. During the return of Sybok to the ship aboard the Galileo, Commander Hikaru Sulu was forced to crash the shuttle into the Enterprise landing bay, as the ship was pursued by a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, commanded by Klaa, and there was no time to use the tractor beam for a safe entrance. The Bird-of-Prey followed the Enterprise to the center of the galaxy. The crew was too involved with Sybok's visit to the planetoid found there and did not notice the Klingon vessel enter sensor range. The Bird-of-Prey caught the Enterprise off-guard and disabled her before she had a chance to retaliate. However, Klingon ambassador Korrd, rescued from Nimbus III, relieved Captain Klaa and ordered the Bird-of-Prey to stand down. The Klingon crew was later invited to a reception following the return of the Enterprise to Kirk's control and the discovery that Sha Ka Ree was a myth. The brig was also damaged during the mission, as Captain Scott blew a hole in the back wall to free Captain Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy. Spock also kept a picture of himself and his friends on the bridge of the Enterprise-A from this time for the next century until his death in 2263 of the alternate reality. 2290s Starfleet began a fleet-wide research project into the investigation of gaseous planetary anomalies in the early 2290s. The Enterprise-A was one of several Federation starships to be outfitted with advanced equipment for their study. 2293 In 2293, the Enterprise-A was due to be retired along with most of her command crew. However, she was pressed back into service for one last mission as an escort for Klingon chancellor Gorkon during the initial stages of the Khitomer Accords. The ship rendezvoused with the Klingon flagship, Kronos One, and was to follow it to Earth. Unfortunately, a joint Starfleet, Klingon, and Romulan conspiracy had an operative, Lieutenant Valeris, aboard the ship. Valeris participated in a plan to implicate the Enterprise and Captain Kirk as rogue assailants in Gorkon's murder, with the goal of derailing the peace process. The Enterprise appeared to fire two photon torpedoes at Kronos One, temporarily disabling her propulsion and gravity systems. Amid the chaos two space-suited Starfleet crew members, Burke and Samno, beamed aboard, assassinating Gorkon. Valeris altered the ship's records to make it seem as if two torpedoes had been fired. The torpedoes actually came from a cloaked protoype Bird-of-Prey directly below the Enterprise, which had been modified to fire while cloaked. Kirk and Dr. McCoy were arrested and tried for the murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment on the penal colony Rura Penthe. Valeris also provided Kirk's log entries from the Enterprise to the Klingon co-conspirators to further implicate Kirk. The Enterprise was ordered back to Earth, but Spock ignored orders and initiated an investigation aboard the ship. He discovered evidence which linked Valeris to the conspiracy, despite her best efforts to sabotage the investigation. The Enterprise then entered Klingon space, masquerading as the freighter Ursva and rescued Kirk and McCoy. Spock mind melded with Valeris and learned more about the conspiracy, including details of the Bird-of-Prey and names of those involved. Captain Sulu aboard the [[USS Excelsior (NCC-2000)|USS Excelsior]] provided Kirk with the new location of the peace conference, and the two ships warped to Khitomer in order to prevent a second assassination of the Federation President and the new Klingon chancellor, Azetbur. General Chang was waiting in orbit with his Bird-of-Prey, however, and the Enterprise was attacked upon arrival. The starship was seriously damaged and suffered a hull breach through her saucer section. The Excelsior, too, was helpless against the cloaked ship. Fortunately, Spock, McCoy, and Uhura devised a plan to use a photon torpedo equipped with sensors capable of tracking ionization from the Bird-of-Prey's impulse engines. It successfully hit Chang's vessel, knocking it out of the cloak and leaving it vulnerable to further torpedo volleys from the Enterprise and the Excelsior. Following the destruction of the Bird-of-Prey, Enterprise and Excelsior crew beamed down to the Khitomer Conference and apprehended the conspirators, preventing the assassination. Following the Khitomer mission, the Enterprise was ordered by Starfleet Command to return to spacedock to be decommissioned. In spite of this, Captain Kirk ordered the ship on course to the "second star to the right, ...and straight on 'til morning." Kirk later recorded in his log that the Enterprise and her history "will shortly become the care of another crew." The next USS Enterprise, the , was launched later that year. :This is a different verson of the Enterprise decommissing. The Enterprise-A is ordered to be decommissioned by Admiral Androvar Drake, and is scheduled to be destroyed in a Starfleet live-fire exercise. However, the government of Chal requests that they be given the Enterprise to use in their system defense forces. When Chal's population takes control of the vessel, they retrofit the ship with Klingon disruptors and sensors, replacing the previous classified Starfleet technology stripped out of the vessel. Retired Captain James T. Kirk is appointed commanding officer of the starship, which is renamed Enterprise (without a registry or registry prefix) as it makes way for Chal, while Captain Scott also returns to duty as its chief engineer. When a Starfleet investigation into Chal's past reveals that Drake is attempting to steal lost genetic engineering secrets hidden on Chal by the colony founders, a showdown occurs in the system. The rest of the former Enterprise crew arrive at Chal aboard Hikaru Sulu's [[USS Excelsior (NCC-2000)|USS Excelsior]], and the Enterprise-A is destroyed in the corona of one of Chal's binary stars while defending the Excelsior from Klingon battle cruisers under the direction of Admiral Drake, who attempts to travel back in time and kill Kirk. In 2369, Montgomery Scott visited the Enterprise at the Starfleet Museum at Starbase 122. The comic disregards the destruction of the Enterprise in the "Shatnerverse". Alternate timeline In an alternate timeline created when Yeoman J. Mia Colt was sent forward in time from 2254 to 2293, Captain Christopher Pike remained in command of the until it was decommissioned, after which it became a popular attraction at the San Francisco Smithsonian Museum of Air, Sea and Space. He was then placed in command of the Enterprise-A. As of 2293, his senior staff included his first officer and science officer Spock, the chief medical officer Gabrielle Carlotti, the chief engineer Moves-With-Burning-Grace, the helmsman Hikaru Sulu, the navigator José Tyler and the communications officer Nyota Uhura while Saavik was a junior science officer. In 2293, the Enterprise was destroyed when Pike activated its self-destruct sequence in orbit of Argol II after it had been severely damaged by a Klingon bird-of-prey commanded by General Chang and three Klingon battle cruisers. As the Enterprise-A was destroyed, Colt entered the Well of Tomorrows on Argol II and was returned to 2254, thereby restoring the proper timeline. Personnel Senior staff *Commanding officer: Captain James T. Kirk (2286-2293) *First officer and science officer: Captain Spock (2286-2293) *Helmsman: Commander Hikaru Sulu (2286-2289) *Chief medical officer: Commander Leonard McCoy (2286-2293) *Chief engineer: Captain Montgomery Scott (2286-2293) *Helmsman: **Commander Hikaru Sulu (2286-2290) **Lieutenant Saavik (2290-2293) **Lieutenant Valeris (2293) *Navigator and security chief/tactical officer: Commander Pavel Chekov (2286-2293) *Communications officer: Commander Nyota Uhura (2286-2293) Category:Federation starships Category:Constitution class starships